01920cam a22002417 4500001000600000003000500006005001700011008004100028100002400069245010200093260006600195490004100261500001600302520097600318530006101294538007201355538003601427700002401463710004201487830007601529856003701605856003601642w1878NBER20150802215854.0150802s1986 mau||||fs|||| 000 0 eng d1 aFreeman, Richard B.10aBonuses and Employment in Japanh[electronic resource] /cRichard B. Freeman, Martin L. Weitzman. aCambridge, Mass.bNational Bureau of Economic Researchc1986.1 aNBER working paper seriesvno. w1878 aApril 1986.3 aJapan has a relatively unique system of labor compensation. Most Japanese workers are paid large bonuses twice a year. This paper examines the cyclical movement of bonuses compared with wages and the relation of bonuses to employment in the context of the Weitzman "share economy." The paper makes three basic points:(1) The Japanese bonus is much more pro-cyclical than Japanese base wages,but not as cyclically variable as profits. Bonuses can be interpreted as containing a quantitatively significant revenue or profit-sharing component.(2) Bonuses have quite different employment consequences than do base wages. Even after controlling for other economic factors, bonuses are positively related to employment, whereas base wages are negatively related to employment.(3) The bonus system of paying workers, while far from explaining the whole macroeconomic story in Japan, seems to play a role in helping to stabilize Japanese unemployment at comparatively low levels. aHardcopy version available to institutional subscribers. aSystem requirements: Adobe [Acrobat] Reader required for PDF files. aMode of access: World Wide Web.1 aWeitzman, Martin L.2 aNational Bureau of Economic Research. 0aWorking Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research)vno. w1878.4 uhttp://www.nber.org/papers/w187841uhttp://dx.doi.org/10.3386/w1878